In March, Jack Ma, chairman and CEO of the Alibaba Group, China's biggest e-commerce company, led a contingent of some 20 executives, including those from group subsidiaries, to trips to the U.S. and elsewhere. His purpose: to have a firsthand look at the post-financial crisis situation of the information-technology industries. The contingent's itinerary included meetings with leaders of such U.S. IT giants as Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. The fact-finding trips taught Alibaba executives that "most companies that steered clear of the financial crisis relatively unscathed had solid management visions," according to Alibaba vice president Jiong Sun.
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